Tuesday, November 29, 2011

...After the turkey

What to do with all of those leftovers... The weekend before Thanksgiving I made a 21-lb. turkey for my small family of 4. I did it for several reasons.

I love turkey.

I bought it for $0.77/lb! Yes, I spent about $15 on my huge turkey! This is an incredible way to be frugal. I bought 2 and kept one in the deep freezer for early spring.

I can make it go far. Turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberries are my favorite way to eat the leftovers.

I can make it go far. Freezing chopped or pulled turkey meat for other recipes in 2 cup freezer bags.

I can make it go far. Using 5 cups of pulled turkey meat, I can make 7 dinners and 9 lunches and still have some left. How? Turkey soup. Perfect for a cool, crisp fall or winter day.

And that's just what I did. I made soup. Just like mom does. First, the broth, then the soup. This is not a fast process, but the results are awesome. All measurements are approximate.

Turkey Broth

1 large turkey carcass, some or most of the meat pulled off. I do this the same night we have our turkey dinner. I pull much of the meat off, shove the carcass into my big stockpot, put a lid on it, and then refrigerate until the next day. If you have 3-5 hours to kill, then by all means, skip the fridge part. For me, the next morning I pull out the stockpot, fill water to the top of the carcass, add a big handful of baby carrots (8-10), and toss in a tablespoon or so of celery seed. If you have fresh celery, then use it instead!
Bring it all to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for about 4-5 hours. At this point you will have a bunch of stuff all floating around and will need to get it all out. So break out a large platter, grab your tongs, your mesh colander and anything else that can help dig out all that stuff. Last thing to do is to get a huge container or two to strain your stock into. Pour your stock through a fine mesh colander into the containers. Put them in the fridge and save for the next day. Using a skimmer on the chilled stock, remove the fat off the top. It's a lot of work but it's worth it for a delicious, healthy meal option.

2 comments:

my parents made a similar turkey soup every year after thanksgiving with the leftovers, too. so delicious! this year i used the leftovers for a turkey tortilla soup. turned out great, + a little different from what i was used to, which is fun. =)

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Welcome! I'm Kelly. I'm an IT professional by day, as well as a full time happy wife and mom of two. I love to make my house a home. I'm often compared to someone named Martha ;) and that's how this blog began. Please come back again!